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Looking for a little more academic rigor on the road to the Final Four? We’ve launched our fourth annual Metrics Mania, a competition designed to measure the research impact of American universities.

The competition takes the field of 68 teams that qualify for this year’s March Madness tournament and uses the bracket to pit the schools against one another in a contest of another kind: to find out who is the most influential producer of scientific research. In 2015, Harvard knocked off Duke in the finals. Previous winners include Stanford (2014) and the University of California Berkeley (2013).

Winners will be identified by research derived from Thomson Reuters InCites™, the leading web-based research analytics platform enabling institutions to measure research output and impact, monitor trends, and benchmark performance against peers at the individual, departmental and global levels. Fans are invited to submit brackets with their predictions of the winners.

“March Madness is about to take the country by storm, and while Duke will look to defend their basketball crown, they’re seeking redemption in Metrics Mania after falling to Harvard in the finals last year,” said Jessica Turner, global head of Government & Academia at Thomson Reuters. “This year there are a record 460,000 Division 1 student athletes, and only a select few will go on to a career in sports. As an industry leader in evaluating the performance and impact of an institution’s research program, Thomson Reuters InCites offers a unique perspective to see which schools are giving their students an inside edge when it comes to being part of a leading culture of science.”

To follow the tournament on social media, stay tuned to the InCites (@InCites_TR) and Science Watch (@TR_ScienceWatch) Twitter feeds. To join the conversation, use the hashtag: #metricsmania.

It was back in 2000 when the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) first designated April 26th as “World IP Day.”

Now, 15 years later, the day marks an annual opportunity to raise awareness for how patents, copyrights, trademarks and designs impact daily life while increasing understanding of how protecting IP rights helps promote creativity and innovation. It’s a chance to celebrate creativity and the contribution made by creators and innovators to the development of societies, and encourage respect for the IP rights of others.

This year, the theme of World IP Day is music and the organization will celebrate the achievements of thousands of singers, songwriters, publishers, producers, arrangers, and engineers from around the world. But with artists often drawing inspiration from others, there can be a thin line between inspiration and sampling, and knowing the difference between the two can spare a ton of headaches.

Just ask Sam Smith, who was just on the losing end of a royalties case against Tom Petty for his hit “Stay With Me.” An uncited sampling, inadvertent or not, can often cost an artist thousands, if not millions, in earnings. And it’s not enough to simply rely on the ear of an engineer or producer to ensure there is no infringement on anyone else’s work.

Recently, I wrote about the true cost of free IP searches in IAM magazine. It’s a warning that artists in the music industry might be wise to heed. Relying on common knowledge, or even a free search through some kind of directory, isn’t going to protect artists and their hard-earned dollars. On World IP Day, the best lesson we can teach is that you get what you pay for when it comes to protecting your assets, and musicians are just as susceptible to a misstep.

Our research into patent activity around the world identifies hotspots of innovation and India is no exception.

That is why for the second consecutive year, Thomson Reuters has produced the 2014 State of Innovation India report and awarded prizes to the most innovative companies in the country.

The study showcases twelve leading sectors and analyzes the innovation in each based on patent activity. Additionally, Thomson Reuters presented the India Innovation Awards to recognize innovation and entrepreneurship in India.

Key findings from this year’s report include:

Eight of the Top 10 patent filers in India are Indian organizations. Among the top 10 patent filers in India, eight of these are Indian organizations, Tata Consultancy, CSIR, Larsen & Toubro, Crompton Greaves, Infosys, Tata Motors, TVS Motor, Bharat Heavy Electricals. The two non-Indian top filers are Robert Bosch and Samsung India.

Computing & Control leads the innovation activity drawing level with pharmaceutical sector. The largest individual sector for innovation in India is Computing & Control, followed closely by Pharmaceuticals. This is the first time Computing & Control has been in the lead.

High-tech, mechanical engineering sectors displace the traditional chemical and agricultural. New sectors such as Electric Power Engineering, Building & Construction, Semiconductors & Electronic Components, Lighting & Heating and Engines, and Pumps & Compressors have increased innovation activity year over year.

According to Techonomy founder and CEO David Kirkpatrick, executives around the globe are finding that new ideas and innovations that can generate the most growth are likeliest to emerge in organizations like small start-ups, putting one-time power brands in the position to alter their ways of doing business.

“The $52-billion-a-year health insurer Aetna, for example, has doubled its stock price in the last two years even as its CEO Mark Bertolini has emphasized breaking the company down into smaller units. ‘We’re 163 years old,’ said Bertolini at last year’s Techonomy conference in Arizona, discussing the impact of tech on his business. ‘Is that a plus or minus?’ a moderator asked him. ‘That’s a minus,’ he replied. ‘Some say we have actuaries who’ve been around 163 years. So it’s difficult moving the model. You have to create separate organizations inside the company that are driving these technologies.’ “

Laura Gaze, Director, IP Solutions: It seems counterintuitive, but there is a lot to glean from Kirkpatrick’s insight. Large companies often bear the burden of many hurdles to clear, and as a result, ideas that could truly innovate often get muddied down before they’re able to grab hold. Large companies have the resources that start-ups don’t, and they should utilize these advantages to breed a culture that encourages innovative thinking. Over the past five years, we’ve seen many corporate American mainstays perish simply because they weren’t able to produce this type of culture. It might just be the time for small thinking.

Laura Gaze, Director, IP Solutions: The definition of speed has certainly changed since our partnership was originally brokered in 2000. Innovation across the automotive industry has equipped Formula One drivers with some of the most impressive technologies known to man, and the evolution of the Thomson Reuters family in that time has been just as profound. We are always intrigued to see where the future will lead us, as we continue down exciting new roads with our corporate partners across all of our businesses, and we’re proud that our brand has enjoyed such close success with another industry leader.

Lots of CEOs talk about innovation, but which companies are putting their money where their mouths are when it comes to driving real innovation? Today, the IP & Science business of Thomson Reuters answered that question with the release of its fourth annual Top 100 Global Innovators list.

The annual study, which is the only purely quantitative ranking of innovation of its kind, recognizes the 100 most innovative organizations globally based on a series of financial and patent-related metrics.

Beyond the list itself, which includes some names you’d expect (Apple, IBM, Google, IBM, Samsung) and some surprises (Blackberry, Huawei, NGK Spark Plug), the Top 100 Innovators report also contains a detailed analysis of company financials, the influence of governmental policies and industry trends.

Following are some of the key findings:

Japan Takes the Lead Among Global Innovators; U.S. Declines 27% Year-Over-Year: Asia is home to the largest share of Top 100 innovators for the first time this year, with 46 of the 100 companies hailing from that region. Of these, 39 are based in Japan, 4 in South Korea, 2 from Taiwan and, for the first time, a Chinese company (Huawei) has made the list. North America follows with 36, down from 46 last year, with 35 companies domiciled in the US and 1 in Canada. Europe contributed 18 honorees, with the largest representation coming from France (7), Switzerland (5) and Germany (4). The United Kingdom is noticeably absent from the Top 100 list again this year, despite aggressive tax legislation in the country designed to spur new innovation.

R&D Spending Growth Accelerates: The 100 organizations in the study spent a combined U.S. $208 trillion on R&D in 2013, the group outspent the constituents of S&P 500 at a rate of 4:1. On a year-over-year basis, Top 100 Global Innovators increased their total R&D spending by nearly 17 percent.

Smartphone Patent Wars Continue to Drive New Innovation: The intense competition in the smartphone space is on clear display in this year’s Top 100 Global Innovators list, with the major players in the smartphone patent wars present: Apple, Microsoft, Samsung, Google and BlackBerry.

Semiconductor Firms Still Leading the Chase: The Semiconductor and Electronic Components industry continued to lead all other industry sectors in 2014, with 21 representative companies, a 9 percent decrease from the previous year, but still a 50 percent increase since the Top 100 program’s inception, when there were just 14 semiconductor companies on the list. Computer hardware was the next most prolific industry, with 13 companies, up 18% over the previous year. The Industrial sector contributed 8 companies to the Top 100 list, displacing the Automotive sector, which contributed 6 companies this year, down from 8 last year.

Pharma Continues to Increase Presence in Top 100: For the second year in a row, a growing number of pharmaceutical companies, including Abbott Laboratories, Johnson & Johnson, Novartis and Roche, have cemented their presence on the Top 100 list by virtue of their strong global patent portfolios. This comes despite the Top 100 methodology favoring fast-moving, hyper-competitive industries such as semiconductors/electronic components and computer hardware, as opposed to pharma, which tends to have longer R&D cycles.

On November 6th, leading U.S. innovators will gather at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA for Inside Innovation: What It Takes to Win.

This free event will include a panel discussion, moderated by Rob Cox from Reuters Breakingviews. and a question and answer session that will help attendees glean insights from some of the most innovative minds at the nation’s top firms and institutions.

We’ve released our latest State of Innovation report today that analyzes global patent filing data over the last 5 years. The 2014 edition of the study, which tracks global patent volumes of 12 bellwether industries, charts hottest growth areas, the impact of emerging markets and nascent hotbeds of new economic growth, finds that the overall rate of innovation growth is now at its highest level since the Great Recession.

Following are some of the report’s key findings:

Biggest Innovation Gains Since End of Recession: Total, worldwide patent volume increased 26% over the last year, with 11 of the 12 technology areas studied showing increases. All but one of the 11 gainers had double-digit growth.

Automotive Safety, Energy Exploration and Smart Kitchen Appliances Drive Largest Gains: The Automotive, Petroleum, and Domestic Appliances technology areas had the greatest year-over-year increases, with each logging a 35% jump in worldwide patent volume over the prior period. Domestic Appliances ranked among the top three leaders for the second consecutive year. Safety-related innovation saw the greatest gains in the Automotive sector; while the Petroleum sector was driven by petroleum and gas exploration, drilling and processing.

Emerging Markets & Academic Contributions on Upswing: Increased activity from China and Russia emphasizes the focus on innovation in these regions, as do increased activity on the part of universities and research institutions. More of such entities made it into the Top 10 regional lists than any year in the past.

Computing & Peripherals Continue to Lead the Global Pack: The technology area with the largest overall global patent volume continues to be Computing & Peripherals, for the fifth consecutive year, with over 300,000 inventions over the past year. That’s more than double the innovation activity of the next nearest technology area: Telecommunications. All subsectors within Computing & Peripherals showed positive gains, a first since this report’s inception.

The British government’s incentive program designed to convince companies to locate research-and-development teams in the U.K. may be at the center of Pfizer’s planned takeover of AstraZeneca.

“The United Kingdom has created attractive incentives for companies to manufacture products and maintain and protect intellectual property, and we have seen that capital and jobs have followed these types of incentives,” Pfizer CEO Ian Read said in a Monday-morning statement designed to woo Astra shareholders (via the WSJ).

According to the Journal:

“When the patent box has been fully phased in by 2017, it will mean qualifying companies pay 10% tax on their profits derived from U.K.-held patents, compared with the current rate of 21% (the rate will fall to 20% in April 2015) […] A combined Pfizer and AstraZeneca would be incorporated in the U.K. (but listed in New York), Mr. Read said Monday, and would therefore be better placed to take advantage of the patent-box tax break on any new drugs developed in the U.K.”

Laura Gaze, Director, Thomson Reuters: The incentives under this new tax regime, which companies have been navigating through for the better part of two years, seem as though they are doing exactly as they were intended. But will this new structure derail Pfizer’s plan? This is an extremely complicated deal with many moving parts, so we may not have answers to these questions for a while, but it’s clear the patent box is set to be a very significant item that may decide many corporate agendas in the years to come.

A major Aereo investor said a Supreme Court ruling against the New York-based streaming company could have serious repercussions on American innovation.

Media mogul Barry Diller told CNN that a Supreme Court decision to shut Aereo, a company that streams local broadcast television to customers’ computers, phones and tablets for $8 per month, would have “profound effects on the development of technology.”

“It’s almost like saying, ‘what if there was no telephone?,” Diller told CNN. “If [the Supreme Court justices] stop it—which they very well may—I don’t think it’s the end of any world because we’ll not really know, but I think … if it stops, it will have profound effects on the developments of technology.”

Laura Gaze, Director, Thomson Reuters: It’s an interesting debate. On one hand, Diller obviously has a vested interest, but he does make a reasonable point. While ABC, NBC, Fox and CBS, accuse Aereo of unlawfully transmitting their copyrighted TV content without paying for licenses, Aereo argues that its service is the legal equivalent of selling customers an antenna and a DVR. It does give one pause to wonder what really is the difference? Ultimately, this will come down to the Court’s interpretation of “public performance” under U.S. copyright law, but should Aereo get shut down, it may deal a serious blow to the evolution of streaming platforms.